Tuesday, 29 January 2013

GW24 Captain Rankings

With Mr. Robin Van Persie and Manchester United hosting Southampton at Old Trafford it's time for Van Persie to return to top spot in the rankings. His F.SCORE distribution has steadily improved through the season so that his profile now is of a player who rarely, if at all, does not have a game where his shooting opportunities are such that a goal, whilst not certain, is almost expected.

Sturridge's place here (and atop the new Buying Guide) is due to his very impressive form, but in just 2 league games so far. If you couple this with his additional game in the cup for Liverpool, and his historical stats fro Bolton and Chelsea I don't think he's too far out there in terms of his inclusion.

A favourable home fixture for Everton against West Brom see's both Baines and Fellaini ranked in the top 10 captain picks. Indeed, the rest of the rankings feature most of the usual suspects in Bale,Mata, Walcott,Michu et all and whilst their fixtures aren't necessarily straightforward their chances of some points are pretty sound.

Dzeko and Berbatov are the outside bets in this list for me. Dzeko may even not play, and if he does will be away against a QPR side with the bit beneath their teeth. Whilst it's unlikely an upset is on the cards, a commitment to a defensively resolute performance is probably the order of the day from Harry Redknapp.

For Berbatov, Fulham's form has been shocking for many weeks now. This is factored into the model though, and has to be seen in respect to West Ham's away form. The cynic in me though sees West Ham's putting up something of a fight in this one, and Fulham not really having the quality to do much about it. We shall see.